She'll Be Okay
by TheUltimateGleek123
Summary: After Beth's birth, when Puck and Quinn are looking at her while she sleeps and Shelby shows up, what is really going through Puck's mind? One-shot. Puck/Quinn.


**Someone needs to yell at me! I can't keep writing more fanfics when I'm not freaking done with the first. But, luckily, the two that I've just written are one-shots. (If you don't understand what the other one I'm referring to is, go read _Puckleberry Fuinn: The Party of their Lives_. Yeah, that's mine, and I just wrote it not too long ago.)**

**And since I just advertised another story of mine, I shall now randomly put out the name of my other story so that it is in the open and for all to see: _Highway to Hell_, thank you very much.**

**What exactly was going through Puck's mind after Beth's birth, while he and Quinn looked at her and Shelby showed up? I was wondering about it; that became my inspiration to write this! I tried my best not to be out of character, but if the characters _do _seem a little OOC, be sure to let me know.**

**So, without further ado, please enjoy _She'll Be Okay_, an original fanfic by Sara (AKA TheUltimateGleek123).**

* * *

"She looks like you."

Quinn and I stood there, side-by-side, looking through the glass at the baby girl that had changed everything. If she had never existed, Quinn would probably still be dating Finn. I'd still be tossing kids into dumpsters. I probably would have never joined Glee. I would've grown up to be a deadbeat, just like my own father.

But this little girl _did_ exist. She'd pulled some people away from each other, but she mostly brought everyone together. Twelve people from all different cliques—nerds, weird kids, jocks, cheerleaders, theatre geeks—came together as one. We're all sort of joined at the hip now; if one goes down, the rest of us are pulled down with them.

When Quinn said nothing, I asked, "Do you want to keep her?"

"No." Quinn's response seemed automatic. I'd thought she would want to at least think about it, but it seemed as if she didn't even want to do that; she just wanted this kid out of her life. I knew it wasn't like that, though. Quinn was too smart and had too big a heart to not even think it over. "Do you?"

I tilted my head to the side. I wanted to keep the baby; I really did. But Quinn didn't. I felt I should go along with what she wanted, since she was the one that had to carry the little girl around for nine months. And it was my fault she got pregnant in the first place. But it was hard for me to just come out and tell her I didn't want to, because that would be flat out lying. So I stuck to my best bet and stayed quiet. And yet, I knew that it was terribly obvious, especially to Quinn.

Quinn and I were unable to tear our eyes away from the sleeping child. Neither one of us knew why, though. It was just a force that prevented us from turning away for even one second. How much she looked like her mother was just uncanny, in my opinion.

Quinn sighed and closed her eyes briefly. "Did you love me?"

"Yes," I told her honestly. "Especially now."

Suddenly, I felt Quinn's gaze on me. After a second or two, I looked back at her. When I saw her, every little strand of blond hair a complete mess, her hands over her stomach, her green eyes glazed over, I couldn't help but smile and laugh through my nose a little, having to turn away. Quinn grinned, too, and our eyes moved back to the baby.

"Which one's yours?"

There was a different voice now. Both Quinn and I turned to see who it was. When I noticed it was Shelby Corcoran, staring into the room where all the sleepy little newborns were lined up and waiting to be taken home, I scoffed inaudibly and turned my head away. Why was she here? Quinn still stared at the woman.

"What are you doing here?" Quinn questioned softly.

Shelby ignored her and said, "Oh, I see her now." She laughed quietly and glanced up at Quinn for a short time, then turned back to look at the baby. "She looks like you."

Then it was quiet again. Quinn took a quick glimpse of the child and locked her stare on Shelby again.

What I didn't understand was what Shelby was doing here. What the hell did she want with my kid—_our_ kid? The child of Quinn Fabray and me, Noah Puckerman — I really did love the sound of that. Shelby was staring fixedly at Baby Puck. Tiny Pucksaurus. Puckster the Second. Was she playing some fucking mind tricks with the kid or something? Because I was pretty sure Rachel could do that if she absolutely wanted to.

"Does she have a name?" Shelby asked.

Quinn's eyes were set intently on Shelby as she responded, "No."

Quinn was wrong this time. The baby most definitely had a name. Had she been drugged up so bad that she forgot me singing to her, and later agreeing with me on the child's name and giving me permission to be there throughout the birth? Apparently. But I guess she was being technical; there was no name on the kid's birth certificate yet. But, as I pointed out, she certainly had a name.

"Beth," I said.

And then my mind was carried somewhere else. I wasn't listening to Shelby anymore. I couldn't even see Quinn standing next to me. All I could see was Beth, sleeping soundly in her little cradle, unaware of everything she'd caused over the past nine months. Just a pure, innocent child without the slightest idea of all the trouble people had gone through just to stand and know she was brought into the world safely.

* * *

Later, I received a call from Mr. Schuester saying the Regionals champions were about to be announced. He was on his way to pick me up. Shelby had already gone; why couldn't I have just gone with her? Or let Quinn's mom take me back? She was still in the hospital somewhere. I decided that riding with Mr. Schuester would be my preference over any of my other choices, though.

Quinn was still watching Beth. It had to have been at least twenty minutes now. Shelby had left about two minutes after we were done talking with her, and Mr. Schuester had called me soon after. Still, Quinn refused to move from her spot, arms wrapped around her torso, staring at her baby intently.

I approached her immediately. "Hey. You okay?"

"Yeah," she breathed. "Just tired. What did Mr. Schue say on the phone?"

"They're announcing the winners soon. He's coming to pick me up," I explained. "I'll call you and let you know who wins."

Quinn just nodded.

I considered going outside to wait for Mr. Schuester to arrive. But I didn't want to go yet. This would be the last time Quinn and I would be standing together with Beth. The last time we could be so close to her. The last time we'd be able to look at her and see the resemblance she shared with Quinn and me, and be able to call her our daughter.

The last time we'd ever be together as a family.

I received a text message from Mr. Schuester on Finn's phone, informing me that he was right outside, waiting for me. I looked up at Quinn. She nodded, knowing I had to go.

"So this is it," I muttered. "The last time I'll ever see her."

Quinn didn't say or do anything.

I turned my head to look at her one last time. I placed my hand against the glass. It felt as if I were touching her.

_Don't get all sappy, _I thought you myself. _You're Noah fucking Puckerman. Act like it. Own it._

I curled my hand into a fist and felt as though I was holding her hand. I felt the tears well in my eyes and wanted to punch myself in the face. I couldn't believe that I was actually crying. I quickly said goodbye to Quinn and told her I'd call her in a little bit. And then I was off, getting out of there as quick as I could, with the image of my daughter forever drilled into my brain. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get her out of my head.

I got into Mr. Schuester's car, assured him that I was okay, met up with the rest of New Directions, let them know Beth was fine, told them Shelby was adopting her, put up with Rachel's insane weepy shit, went through a fucking gay make-up session with Finn, made friends with him again, tolerated losing at Regionals, went back to the hospital with Shelby, signed some papers, got dropped off at Mr. Schue's place, let him drive Quinn and me home, sat in my room for a while, and fell asleep.

The most intense part?

Through all of that, not once did I ever wipe my tears away.

I was okay with that.

Because they were tears over Beth.

And she would be okay.

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